Russ Parker leads St Peter & St Paul’s congregation in an active blessing workshop, following a weekend of healing and restoration.

When we believe in the glorious story of salvation, God looses our tongues and fills us with praise, “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

When we give to God for the support of the church, we give with a glad heart, with an open hand, trusting that God will enrich our gift in His grace and love. How do we know this will happen? Because this is God.

When humanity rebelled against God, the consequences were catastrophic: suffering and death entered the world. How would God, the loving Father, respond? And how are we to cope and make sense of things when we continue to grapple with suffering and death today?

The Holy God who has called us into a restored relational life with Him through Jesus, has given us in the very heartbeat of His created universe, a rhythm to live by that can heal a self-absorbed pace of living that can lead to insanity

The Trinity and the Incarnation are the bedrock of the church. The Spirit of God working within us through Christ Jesus causes us to cry “Abba Father!” because we heirs, adopted children in Christ, through the Spirit.

Spiritual growth happens when we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, surrender to the Holy Spirit amidst the struggles, temptations and "ordinariness" of daily life, and follow Jesus in his own disciplines.

Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven is our assurance of his victory, his identity, and his eternal reign. But does his ascension mean he is no longer present here on Earth?

Jesus is the source of all life. What do we become when we abide in him? He abides in us and we experience the joy and love of God.

Jesus, fully human, fully divine, demonstrates that our love for one another (and, by extension, beyond our faith communities) be not simply spiritual platitudes. Following the pattern of Jesus, our lived-out love is to be sacrificial, embodied, vulnerable, and generous.